Coupler operating device



w 1366- 1949 s. c. BRONSON 2,491,359

COUPLER OPERATING DEVICE Fileki Aug. 25, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Jam/z 6T .B/"orwaiz,

Patented Dec. 13,. 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COUPLER OPERATINGDEVICE ware Application August 25, 1945, Serial No. 812,633

My invention relates to bottom operated railway car couplers andspecifically to means to prevent service movements of the car fromjarring the coupler operating rod or causing it to jump sufficiently tounlock the coupler to which it is operatively attached.

In the modern type E, or bottom operated railway car coupler, a locklifter is pivotally mounted at one end upon the coupler and its otherend is pivotally attached to the coupler lock. Between these pivotalpoints the lock lifter is provided with an eye. An operating rod isrotatively supported at its outer end in a bracket adjacent the side ofthe car, and the inner end of said rod is operatively connected to thelock lifter through said eye, so that rotation of said rod about itslongitudinal axis swings the lock lifter about its pivot and raises theinner end of the rod in an arcuate path as well as the lock lifter andunlocks the coupler.

In the Schlesinger Patent No. 2,399,263, April 30, 1946, which is ownedby my assignee, a means for accomplishing this purpose is illustratedand claimed, but in that application said means forms a part of theoperating rod, which part projects from that portion of the rod whichextends under the coupler and engages a stop surface on said couplerupon accidental upward movement of said operating. rod withoutsubstantial rotation thereof. Coupler operating rods are usually dropforged, and to form such means thereupon requires special forgingequipment, expensive dies, and a plurality of operations, thusincreasing the manufacturing cost of the operating rod. It is theprincipal object of my present invention to provide a means foraccomplishing this purpose without changing the design of the operatingrod.

Another object of the invention is to associate the means to preventaccidental uncoupling of a pair of couplers with the couplersthemselves. Since couplers are constructed of cast steel it is a simplematter to modify the pattern of same so that the castings made therefromwould have the desired projection in the path of upward movement of theoperating rod, without substantial rotation thereof, and thereby preventsaid upward movement from accidentally unlocking the coupler. Simplicityof the structure is, therefore, another object of the invention.

The invention furthermore is readily applicable to couplers now inservice by simply securing to a part of the coupler directly over theoperating rod passing thereunder a suitably 2 Claims. (Cl. 213-166) saidoperating rod and, therefore, would prevent accidental jumping of therod sufliciently to raise the lock lifter of the coupler and therebyunlock the same.

Of course, either modification would not interiere with the normaloperation of the rod in rotating about its longitudinal aXis whichthereby swings the lifter upon its pivot and carries the inner end ofthe rod with it in an arcuate path which raises the lock and unlocks thecoupler.

Other objects and advantages of the invenlustrating the inner end of acoupler operating rod attached to the coupler lock lifter.

Figure 3 is a broken side elevation of a coupler head showing a modifiedform of the invention. Figure 4 is a partial view at right angles to IFigure 2.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one form of member which may besecured to the coupler tocoupler mechanism to a railway car, wherein thecoupler 2 is mounted upon the end wall 3 of the car. The coupler isoperated by the operating rod 4 which isrotatively mounted in a bracket5 attached adjacent the car side. The operating rod 4 is provided with ahandle portion 6 for rotation of the rod about its longitudinal axis tooperate the coupler.

A pair of spaced parallel lugs 8-8 extend downwardly from the bottom ofthe coupler 2, between which is provided a journal pin or trunnion 9upon which is swingably mounted the hooked end I0 of the rotary locklifter ll. At the other end l2 of the lock lifter there is provided ahole for pivotally receiving one end of the lifter arm I3 which operatesthe coupler look within the coupler head. Between the two ends of thelock lifter II there is an opening or eye for reception of the hookedend M of the operating rod so that upon rotation of the operating rod inone direction the lower part of formed piece of metal which projectstoward the hook l4 engages the portion I 5 of the lock litter and swingsthe lock lifter about the trunnion 9, raises the lifter arm l3 andthereby unlocks the coupler.

All of the above is old and well known in the art. A disadvantagethereof is that due to the step-up in the speed of trains, roughroadbed, and more violent application of brakes, etc., the inner end ofthe operating rod sometimes gets to jump;- ing and could, ifunrestrained, build up enough inertia to swing the lock lifter andthereby raise the lifter arm and unlock the coupler, causing a break-intwo of the train which would be very undesirable, obviously. The problemthen i s to provide means to prevent such ppssible able jumping of theinner end of the operatin rod.

In Figures 1 and 2, whichshow an application of the invention to newcouplers, or in other words, a modification in the design andpropertions of a part of the coupler itself so that it can thenaccomplishthe purposeof my invention, I use siif'ri in dotted t ies at16 the normal length tithe/ties 8+8. It is obvious that there is afibtic'abie distance tetweg this line l6 and top of theoperating rod 4immediately thereunder, so that the rod could jump upwardly and take thelifter, l with it if the aforementioned inertia had been built in therod To prevent such jumpthe 1 h ve extended the lugs 3+3 as at [1, sothat their almost contact the upper surface of said rod 4 and,therefore, there is no possibility of the rod jun pingany more than themere clearance therebe tween which is just suiiicient for easy application of the hooked end M of rod 4 in theliiter eye, and sothat the rod endmay swing with the i s- Iron iouir ifi ou i m u r said xt i I! duringthe normal operation of the rod in unekins. t e qo erlfor certain typesof railroad equipment it is obviously desirable that the coupler beoperable from adjacent either or both sides of the car, and, theregore,I have shown in Figure 1, both lugs 8 elgtended as heretofore describedso that the operating rod may extend to the other side of the car, or iftwo rods are used, as in passenger cars, the lock litter eye issufficiently large to accomedatesamel V Ingigures? and 4 I have shown amodification for attachment to couplers already in service, and whiclcornprises an extension member 20, as indicated in Figure 5, welded orotherwise secured fiatwi's'e against the coupler lug 8, and which memberextends downwardly to adjacent the operating rod to prevent the rod fromjumping. 15 'silmilarextension member may be secured to theother lug 8as well in cases Where the coupler tobe operated from either or bothsides of the car.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of theinvention, though it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as itis obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of theclaims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

Iclaiin:

1. In a railway car coupler having a lock, a pair of lugs depending fromsaid coupler, a lock lifter pivotally mounted between said lugs andopratively connected to said lock, and an operatingrodrotativelysupported at its outer end and bpeiatively connected at its inner end tosaid lifter between the places of support of said lifter so thatrotation of said rod about its longitudinal axis swings saidlifter aboutits pivotal mounting therebp iaisin said lifter and inner end of saidrod upwardly and unlocking the coupler; means attached to the lugnearest the outer end of said rod and projecting in the path ofaccidental upward, substantially non-rotating, movement of said inner enor said operating rod forwardly or theaxis 'of rotation of said rod toprevent inner end of saidoperating rod -from accidental upward movementand thereby oa'rryi n g said lifter with it sufiiciently to unlockis aidcoupler.

In a railway car coupler having a look, a pair of lugs depending fromsaid coupler, a lock l'ii'te'i piv'otally mounted between said lugs andoperatively connected to said lock, and an operating rod rotati'velysupported at its outer end and operatively connected at its inner endtosaid lifter between the places of support of said lifter so thatrotation of said rod about its longitudinal axis swings said lifterabout its pivotal mounting thereby raising said lifter and inner end ofsaid if ei r ard r len v l e t q r e s nearest the outer end of said rodhaving means projecting in thepath of accidental upward, sub-'stantially "non-rotating, movement of said inner end of said operatingrod forwardly of the axis of rotation of said rod to prevent said innerend of said 'olpe'rating rod from raising upwardly and carryin saidlifter with it sufficiently to unlock said coupler. f

SABIN C. 'BRONSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Schlesinger Apr- 30, 1946 Number

